The participation of women in this major sporting event, the Olympic Games, was by no means a certainty, nor did it come without serious efforts on the part of the feminist movement. The improvement of the status of women occurred slowly, and women had to overcome numerous barriers. No matter how liberal and progressive society had become, women had to overcome a series of obstacles, one after another. The same happened with the fight for social rights, for the right to vote, or for the right to practice all sports and participate in the Olympic Games. The aim of this study is to describe the path that has been taken by women in the history of Modern Olympic Games and to highlight the main issues regarding gender equality in this important sporting event. If at the first edition of the Modern Olympic Games women did not have the right to participate, at the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro all national delegations included women and in 2024, in Paris, gender equality was achieved in terms of participating athletes (5250 women and 5250 men). Regarding Romania's participation in the Summer Olympic Games, our country was first represented at the 1900 edition by 1 man, while at the last edition, Paris 2024, it had a delegation consisting of 59 men and 47 women. Our country participated for the first time in the Winter Olympics in the 1928 edition with a delegation consisting only of men, while in the 2026 edition Romania had a delegation consisting of 18 men and 10 women. I consider that studying gender equality in sport is a point of interest for the specialists of our field and not only, taking into account the fact that gender inequality is still massively manifested in some countries.
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